After Mumbai Indians (MI) lost to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Tuesday, May 16, bowling coach Shane Bond was displeased with the team’s bowling unit. MI lost by five runs against the Krunal Pandya-led side and dropped to fourth place in the IPL 2023 points table.
The former New Zealand cricketer commented that the most frustrating aspect for him is MI’s inability to execute as per the plans. He also stated that the team had a clear strategy in place to get a player like Marcus Stoinis out but the bowlers did not bowl consistently as they planned.
“For me, the most frustrating thing is about not sticking to the plans that we talk about. We were very clear with what we wanted to do on this wicket to players like Marcus (Stoinis) and where we wanted to bowl, we didn’t bowl there consistently enough.
When you’re looking at a team plan, you’ve got to get the batsmen to hit in areas where you want them to hit. Make it as hard as possible for them. You don’t want them to hit you in areas that they want to hit,” Bond said at the post-match press conference.
“We saw that with Stoinis — a fine player. We knew he was trying to hit straight down the ground and we dished out balls for him to do it. In the end, his innings were the difference between the two teams,” he added.
We’re making the same mistake over and over again: Bond
“We’ve always prided ourselves in our preparation, the work that we do behind the scenes, and how we review the game — the mistakes on which we want to improve. The frustrating thing is that we’re making the same mistake over and over again. From my point of view, it’s disappointing.
For 15 overs, we were excellent, we delivered what we wanted to. One player put us under pressure. That’s what Rashid Khan did the other night and we made the same mistakes. It didn’t cost us in the last game, it definitely cost us tonight,” he said.
